GROVE CITY, Ohio — A Grove City man was arrested related to his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The United States Department of Justice said 28-year-old Benjamin Michael Shuler’s actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that convened to ascertain and count the electoral voters related to the 2020 presidential election.
Shuler is charged with civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers — both felony charges.
Additionally, he is charged with other misdemeanor offenses, such as entering and remaining in a restricted business or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and engaging in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds or buildings.
Court documents state that on Jan. 6, 2021, a police line established on the northwest stairs to the Capitol began to descend the steps to clear the area of protesters, including Shuler. As police began to clear the area, he allegedly resisted and pushed a Montgomery County Police Department officer’s riot shield several times and pressed his body into the shield.
As the police line attempted to advance down the steps, court records say Shuler continued to resist and pressed his body into another police officer’s riot shield and shoved it back several times. As officers continued to move the police line down the stairs, Shuler resisted police and violently pushed an officer’s riot shield several times with significant force.
When the police line approached the bottom steps, a police officer’s body-worn camera footage shows Shuler gesturing to others to meet him in front of the police line and again resisting police by pushing back and swiping at an officer’s riot shield.
Shuler was arrested Wednesday in Lancaster and made his initial appearance in the Southern District of Ohio.
This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
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